The National WWII Museum

Eisenhower told historian Stephen Ambrose that the inventor of the Higgins boat "won the war for us." Andrew Higgins and his Higgins Industries designed, tested, and built the LCVP landing craft in New Orleans — the boats that carried troops onto the Normandy beaches. That single industrial fact is why the museum exists in this city. Ambrose discussed the idea with historian Nick Mueller in Ambrose's hometown of New Orleans. Real estate developer Peter Kalikow, then-owner of the *New York Post*, provided $50,000 in startup funding. Congress later appropriated $4 million. The museum was officially dedicated June 6, 2000, the 56th anniversary of D-Day. It occupied the former Weckerling Brewery building, built in 1888 and closed two years later. In 2003, Congress designated it America's official National WWII Museum; the name change became official in 2006, delayed by Hurricane Katrina. The museum is an affiliated institution of the Smithsonian. The campus spans six acres in the Warehouse District. The original Louisiana Memorial Pavilion holds several aircraft suspended in its atrium, including a Supermarine Spitfire and a Douglas C-47 Skytrain. A Higgins boat is usually on display. Visitors board a simulated train that mimics the experience of soldiers going off to war. The Dog Tag Experience, opened in 2013, assigns each visitor a servicemember's identity; touching the tag to screens within exhibits reveals that person's experience. US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center holds a B-17E Flying Fortress, B-25J Mitchell, SBD-3 Dauntless, TBF Avenger, P-51D Mustang, and Corsair F4U-4. The B-17E is *My Gal Sal*, lost over Greenland and recovered 53 years later. The pavilion includes an interactive submarine experience based on the final mission of the USS *Tang*. The 32,000-square-foot Campaigns of Courage Pavilion opened its Road to Berlin exhibit in December 2014 and Road to Tokyo in 2015. The Liberation Pavilion, opened in 2023, explores how the war affects us today. *Beyond All Boundaries*, the 4-D film shown in the Solomon Victory Theater, gives an overview of the war. The oral history collection — thousands of recorded veteran testimonies — is irreplaceable. Plan a full day. Admission charged.